287 (g) Is a Valuable Program
An outstanding tribute to the worth of the 287 (g) program is the vehement opposition to it by the illegal alien lobbies. The program allows state and local law enforcement agencies to assist federal immigration law enforcement, after receiving training from the U.S. Department of Justice.
This arrangement is increasingly popular, which helps explain why it is so unpopular with the anti-enforcement crowd. The reason 287 (g) came into being was realization that federal authorities simply didn’t have the manpower to provide effective interior enforcement against illegal immigration. The 287 (g) program, by deputizing state and local officers, has the potential of providing the necessary manpower.
The illegal alien lobbies are disturbed by this prospect because, as it is so blatantly obvious, they don’t believe in enforcement of immigration laws. One example is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which seemingly has never encountered an immigration law it could support. Typical of immigration anarchy crowd, the ACLU played the race card against 287 (g), claiming in a report that it promoted “racial profiling.”
In reply to this charge, Dr. James Taylor of the Civitas Institute in North Carolina observed, “It is telling that the ACLU’s report does not cite any definitive evidence that 287 (g) encourages racial profiling. . . . [The ACLU’s] message here is that some groups should get a pass. Under the rule of law, however, no one gets a pass; everyone is treated the same, regardless of race or, even, immigration status.”
Jim Pendergraph, a retired sheriff who used the program successfully in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, had this to say, “It seems too many people are looking for excuses not to use a program that works, [by] crying profiling and racism. It is high time people, all people, were held accountable for bad decisions and illegal conduct.”
Anyone interested in promoting 287 (g) in your state or locality would do well to read the booklet, State and Local Assistance: A Force Multiplier in Immigration Law Enforcement. The price is $3.00 per booklet, and is available from the American Immigration Control Foundation, Box 525, Monterey, VA 24465. To order by credit card, call (540) 468-2022.